GPowers
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Review of Festool Rotex DF 150 Product No. 571760
How it all fits in the Systainer/3
What is in the Systainer/3
The nice thing about the Systainer/3 is there is lots of room for additional sanding pads and other supplies. So you can keep almost everything in one systainer. True there is limited space for sanding paper but enough room for small jobs.
For a complete collection of sanding supplied padds and sanding disks you can also purchaes an additional Systainer/3 with an insert that fits the 150mm supplies. Product number 487 431
1. The Rotex 150 with StickFix soft sanding pad
2. Systainer/3 with insert
3. Sanding guard
4. Sample pack of abrasive disks
5. Plug-it power cord (with extra tab)
6. Instruction booklet
7. Auxiliary side handle
I got the Rotex 150 a few months ago. Did not have any immediate project to try it on so it sat for a while.
After all I was very comfortable with the ETS 150/5. Then I went to the cabinet class in Las Vegas. We used the Rotex when building the face frames for our lower cabinets. It was the only sander we used to build the cabinets.
When working on the face frames we used the Rotex 150, in aggress mode, to even out the corners ay the glue butt joints. Once all the pieces were even and flush we changed the Rotex 150 to the random orbit mode to sand the entire face frame to a smooth finish ready surface.
A couple of tips we learned in the class:
TIP: When sanding narrow stock with the Rotex 150 in aggressive mode, use the top or bottom half of the sanding pad. Not the middle. This will allow more control and minimize the jumping of the sander across the surface.
TIP: Too keep the edges of the face frame sharp a crisp use a "Hard" sanding pad. The Rotex comes with a medium pad so you will need to order the hard pad. But the hard pad will not collapse and round over the edges as it is much stiffer.
TIP: The sanders selector switch MUST be in aggressive mode in order to change the pad. The pad will not lock and allow the quarter turn need to remove the pad if you are in random orbit mode.
Dust collection channel attachment area
Dust collection channel removed
No sanding gard
Sanding guard installed
The Rotex 150 comes with a sanding disk guard. The guard protects the edge of the abrasive sandpaper, when sanding in corners or up against a 90 degree inside edge. with the guard in place the Rotex does not bang up against the wood,
and saves the sandpaper from being crunched and torn.
Jetstream vs. multi-Jetstream pads
Here is a photo of the old JetStream dust extraction pad and the new Multi-JetStream pad. You can see from the dust
residue that the pad on the left draws dust all the way across the pad. Where the pad on the right the dust only
travels half the distance because of the additional holes. Removing the dust faster means your sand paper is
working more, so you have faster material removal with less build up on the sanding disk and less heat buildup.
Difference between the two different Plug-its
So far I have only purchased two Festool sanders (still waiting for the Rotex 90). The ETS 150/5 and the Rotex150.
Both have the Plug-it cord with the additional tab. The tab prevents you from using a sanding plug-it cord on
a non-sander Festool product. See the Plug-it cord on the right the green arrow is pointing at the additional tab.
From what I have been told the sander plug-it cord is more flexible and should not be used with other Festool products.
But using the non-sander Plug-it cords with a sander is OK.
So do I like the Rotex sander, Yes. It is a great versital tool that is mutipal tools in one. Plus it does both jobs great. There is very little compromise in accomplishing both sanding tasks in aggress and random orbit mode. Just whish I had bought this sander first.
How it all fits in the Systainer/3
What is in the Systainer/3
The nice thing about the Systainer/3 is there is lots of room for additional sanding pads and other supplies. So you can keep almost everything in one systainer. True there is limited space for sanding paper but enough room for small jobs.
For a complete collection of sanding supplied padds and sanding disks you can also purchaes an additional Systainer/3 with an insert that fits the 150mm supplies. Product number 487 431
1. The Rotex 150 with StickFix soft sanding pad
2. Systainer/3 with insert
3. Sanding guard
4. Sample pack of abrasive disks
5. Plug-it power cord (with extra tab)
6. Instruction booklet
7. Auxiliary side handle
I got the Rotex 150 a few months ago. Did not have any immediate project to try it on so it sat for a while.
After all I was very comfortable with the ETS 150/5. Then I went to the cabinet class in Las Vegas. We used the Rotex when building the face frames for our lower cabinets. It was the only sander we used to build the cabinets.
When working on the face frames we used the Rotex 150, in aggress mode, to even out the corners ay the glue butt joints. Once all the pieces were even and flush we changed the Rotex 150 to the random orbit mode to sand the entire face frame to a smooth finish ready surface.
A couple of tips we learned in the class:
TIP: When sanding narrow stock with the Rotex 150 in aggressive mode, use the top or bottom half of the sanding pad. Not the middle. This will allow more control and minimize the jumping of the sander across the surface.
TIP: Too keep the edges of the face frame sharp a crisp use a "Hard" sanding pad. The Rotex comes with a medium pad so you will need to order the hard pad. But the hard pad will not collapse and round over the edges as it is much stiffer.
TIP: The sanders selector switch MUST be in aggressive mode in order to change the pad. The pad will not lock and allow the quarter turn need to remove the pad if you are in random orbit mode.
Dust collection channel attachment area
Dust collection channel removed
No sanding gard
Sanding guard installed
The Rotex 150 comes with a sanding disk guard. The guard protects the edge of the abrasive sandpaper, when sanding in corners or up against a 90 degree inside edge. with the guard in place the Rotex does not bang up against the wood,
and saves the sandpaper from being crunched and torn.
Jetstream vs. multi-Jetstream pads
Here is a photo of the old JetStream dust extraction pad and the new Multi-JetStream pad. You can see from the dust
residue that the pad on the left draws dust all the way across the pad. Where the pad on the right the dust only
travels half the distance because of the additional holes. Removing the dust faster means your sand paper is
working more, so you have faster material removal with less build up on the sanding disk and less heat buildup.
Difference between the two different Plug-its
So far I have only purchased two Festool sanders (still waiting for the Rotex 90). The ETS 150/5 and the Rotex150.
Both have the Plug-it cord with the additional tab. The tab prevents you from using a sanding plug-it cord on
a non-sander Festool product. See the Plug-it cord on the right the green arrow is pointing at the additional tab.
From what I have been told the sander plug-it cord is more flexible and should not be used with other Festool products.
But using the non-sander Plug-it cords with a sander is OK.
So do I like the Rotex sander, Yes. It is a great versital tool that is mutipal tools in one. Plus it does both jobs great. There is very little compromise in accomplishing both sanding tasks in aggress and random orbit mode. Just whish I had bought this sander first.
